Isle of Mon`key Web Site, Horse Brasses

The simple Horse Brass, you have seen them hang around fire places in your friends home or even down at your local Pub. But did you know they had Mystical powers of good or evil, in fact over the last two thousand years people of all racers around the world have had some sort of Talisman to hang around of their animals necks. One of the most interesting English finds dates back from Roman times and shows on a Bronze Bulls head aroundel on its forehead. Oxen were used to put ploughs in Roman times. The Celtic era provides us with the earliest existing "Brasses" a leaf shaped silver plate bearing a Sun Wheel at its apex.

It should not be forgotten that folklore provides a strong bond with Corner the remote past and importance when considering the form horse the brass took through the centuries. In Norfolk England, back in 1859, an instance is recorded of a ploughman who always had tied around the neck of his horse the thumb of an old leather glove. It contain a transcript of the Lords Prayer.

The ploughman claimed that this was a charm against the Evil Eye, to preserve the horse of ills including stumbling. A stone with a hole in would be hung around an animals neck, were also called a witch’s stone, the belief that the hole had been formed by the touch of an "Adders Tongue." When we study horse brass we are perhaps delighted or amazed by the variety of designs and seems to be rather bewildering. Discovering Horse Brasses by J Vince is a good book to read through and add to your collection.